Learning Curve
by J. ROOF
Summary: A young Ensign Scott learns about what it takes to be a Starfleet officer and a little about love. Rated M for copious amounts of smut.
1. Chapter 1

This story is a collaboration between myself and KayEm2. We sincerly hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoy writing it.

Neither of us own Star Trek

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1.

Ensign Scott muttered a curse under his breath as he lay in the Churchill's auxiliary maintenance tunnel and slid open the end access panel. It was a simple enough repair - the lighting circuits for B Deck needed replacing - but accessing them from the furthest reaches of the engineering hull's lowest deck was a different matter. Which was, of course, why the green Ensign had been sent to sort it out.

Scotty sighed, and shone his wrist-light into the hatchway, which had clearly been designed with the discomfort of junior engineers in mind, and picked out the rogue circuits. Naturally, they were in the middle of a tangle of connections, and would take him a while to disconnect. "Nothing's ever simple," he growled.

He knew from past experience that the work would be slow, cramped and hot, so before he got started he peeled off his uniform jersey. It was against regulations, but no-one was likely to be wandering down here just to check that he was properly dressed.

Pulling the tools he would need from the tool case he'd brought with him, he raised his arms over his head to place them inside the maintenance space, together with the replacement circuits, then rolled onto his back and carefully edged his arms and shoulders through the hatchway.

He'd been working steadily for a half-hour or so when he felt something - someone - brush his legs. Someone female, to judge by the giggling, though he couldn't make out who. Scotty tried to back out of the hatch when a pair of hands gripped his ankles.

"Oh no you don't," said a sultry voice. "I have you right where I want you."

"Who goes there?" He asked in a nervous chuckle, thinking that someone must be playing a game with him.

Another giggle was her only reply. Scotty tried to lift his head high enough to peer out the hatch and identify his captor but all he could make out were her hands. Soft feminine hands cuffed at the wrist in Science blue. Hands that were now tugging off his boots.

"Hey!" He exclaimed.

"Relax, I'm not going to take off with them," she replied keeping her voice low and even.

The mystery girl pulled off his socks and Scotty realized if he could keep her talking he might be able to identify her.

"At least give me a clue as to who ye are."

The hands began to massage his feet one at a time. The pads of the thumbs gently pressed into the arches of his feet and moved in a circular motion back and forth over the ball and heel. Scotty fought against a moan.

While one foot was being worked, he felt his other foot resting on the cushion of a supple thigh and knew she must be sitting on the floor. He tried very hard to concentrate on her voice as she answered, quietly echoing into the hatch, "You know me well, yet you chose not to know me at all."

"And what kind of clue is that, lass?"

She did not answer. Instead, she grasped each heel and pushed slightly against the ball, stretching his feet in a flexing motion and rotating them at the ankle. Then she pulled the top of his feet towards her body forcing his feet to point and rotated each one again in the opposite direction.

Scotty thought about the clue she had given, but being too distracted to think clearly, he came up empty. By now his neck began to ache from the position he was trying to maintain and he pushed his arms under his head for support. The new position gave him a better view, but only of her hands which were now massaging each toe.

Her gentle hands were small and square at the palms with long fingers that were smooth at the joints and rounded at the tips. The unpolished nails were well cared for and clipped short at the fingertips. She slid them over the sole of his foot, using her thumbs this time to massage the metatarsus.

And then he noticed it. A small freckle on her left hand between her thumb and index finger.

Scotty smiled to himself thinking he had her now. He would wait patiently for her to finish her little game and if he couldn't get her identity when she let him out of the hatch, he would search every hand on the ship until he found that freckle and the person it was attached to.

Scotty thought it odd that someone would ambush him with a foot rub. But he had to admit it felt quite good to his tired feet and he began to relax. He imagined as the massage continued, what it would be like to confront the mystery girl when he discovered who she was. He watched her hands move slowly and deliberately over his feet, making sure each one received equal attention. Before he knew it, he was thinking about what else those lovely hands could do.

Scotty imagined them sliding up his legs to his waist and slipping under his black regulation undershirt. He imagined the hands being as soft and cool on the rest of his body as they were on his feet. His mind wandered to a huge bed with crisp clean white linens, the hands roving over his body, lightly touching every place he craved to be touched. It had been awhile since he rested in the arms of a woman. As his thoughts became more sexual in nature he felt a twinge in his groin and whimpered. Suddenly embarrassed, he lifted his head off his arms to look down at his feet and found that the hands were gone.

Not knowing how long he had laid there, Scotty shimmied out of the hatch hoping to catch the mystery girl before she got away. But instead of finding her, he found the compartment empty, his boots sitting neatly next to the hatchway, socks tucked inside.

_Damn! _He thought and he sat down to put his socks and boots back on, wondering what the hell just happened.

Over the next few days, Scotty found himself acutely aware of just how often an engineer ended up on his belly in a crawl-space, or on his back under a console. Every time he pulled a panel and started to work on a piece of equipment he found himself half-expecting - and hoping - that his mystery lady would return.

He also found himself taking an unusual interest in the hands of any woman in science blue - which for him was a change from checking out certain other parts of their anatomy. Trouble was that the _Churchill_ - though not a big ship - was a Science Vessel. Which meant that, of the 180 crew, only about 30 were _not_ wearing blue.

Even by ruling out all the men, and any woman with officer braids on her sleeve, that still left about fifty females, including the Xenobiologists, Medical Staff, Analysts, Chemists, Physicists, Lab Assistants, and a half-dozen scientific specialist posts that Scotty had barely heard of before he started his search through the personnel manifest.

He cringed as he read Ensign Spears' name on the screen, and remembered that embarrassing business in the Rec. room when he'd grabbed Spears' arm as she was returning her empty food tray to the cycler. She'd had traces of chocolate on her left hand and he'd mistakenly thought... well, anyway, it wasn't her. Though unfortunately she now seemed to think that he was interested in _her_, and kept making puppy-eyes at him, which had made for a certain amount of teasing from the other junior engineers. His roomie, Stevens, had been particularly annoying about it, and had even gone so far as to invite Spears and her friend Angie Peters to sit at their table for lunch the previous day.

At least he could rule out Peters - and the other fifteen Africans and African-Americans, plus the six Asians, three Hispanics and the Andorian. Blue his girl definitely wasn't.

That still left 24 possibilities.

Scotty sighed, and scrolled through the manifest one more time. It was no use. He needed more clues. The question was; would she give him the chance to collect any?


	2. Chapter 2

2.

Eventually Scotty found himself giving up on the idea of finding his foot masseuse. For one thing, he had entirely too much work to do and he was also becoming tired and bored with searching for her. He knew eventually he would figure out who "She" was. There was simply too much talk on board a ship as small as the _Churchill_ and although he kept the incident to himself, sooner or later someone would say something and he would hear about it.

But sure enough, sooner rather than later, one afternoon while working on a bank of grow lights in the botany lab, the issue of feminine hands reared its annoying head once more.

Scotty had just finished installing the grow lights above a new work table for his friend Ensign Heather Weiss when his stomach tightened in an audible _grrrrr. _He glanced down to see if she heard the sound but she had her back to him at one of her potting benches and didn't seem to notice. He jumped down from the table and picked up his tools, stashing them away in their case.

As he approached her at the bench, he decided to ask her if she would go to dinner with him in the mess hall.

"Is food all you ever think about?" She said giving him a sideways glance.

"Aye, I _am_ a growing lad with a healthy appetite after all," he replied grinning and patting his belly.

"More like an over-grown lad," she smiled back.

"You know me well, lass" he said.

And as soon as he said it, something occurred to him. Heather. He had known the girl since the first day they came aboard the ship. Both of them newest of the lowest ranking officers, ready to set the galaxy on fire. She with her skills as a Starfleet botanist and he as an engineer. Neither of them quite fitting in with the enlisted crew nor fitting in with their higher ranking officers, they both stuck together in their first few weeks aboard _Churchill. _

They ate together, went to orientation together and in-processed together until they ended up meeting other people and settling into their work. They were still friendly to each other, just too busy with other things to spend the time together as they had when they were new to the ship. But it never dawned on him that Heather could be the "She" he was looking for. Even as he skimmed over her name on the manifest he never thought she could be _her._

He thought he _knew_ her and yet he had indeed chosen not to pursue her. Was that what she was trying to tell him? _"You know me well, yet you chose not to know me at all."_

Then Heather laughed at the expression he must have had on his face while he was lost in thought. When he heard the bubbly sound that rang in her voice, the hair on the back of his neck stood up. He had the sudden urge to pull off her gloves and check her hands for freckles. But after the episode with Ensign Spears he decided he needed to be a little more subtle.

Heather sighed and looked at the Taurian Lavender she had just re-potted and said, "I guess I could eat right about now. Just give me a minute to wash up."

The proverbial light-bulb blinked on above Scotty's head and he followed her to the sink under the guise of continuing their small talk. He waited with anticipation as she pulled her apron over her head and hung it on a peg. Distracted, he began to stumble over his words. She frowned and asked him if everything was okay.

"Aye, everything is fine. Why do ye ask?"

"You just….had a strange look on your face," she answered suspiciously.

His stomach growled again just in time for him to recover, "Must be because I'm hungry. Hurry up, lass. A man could starve waiting around for ye."

Her bright blue eyes widened and she laughed again, "Alright! Alright! Sheesh!"

She quickly pulled off her gloves and turned to the sink. As she washed her hands, Scotty maneuvered himself against the counter casually and leaned in as if he wanted to wash his own hands next. Heather moved over to let him in and he pumped the soap and began scrubbing all the while watching for that freckle. He didn't see much at first, just the twisting motion of her soapy hands under the water. His mind mentally matched her fingers to the long fingers that massaged his soles, the square palms that gripped his heels. She rinsed and tore a paper towel from the dispenser and dried just as he noticed the small, brown freckle he had been looking for.

Pulling him out of his reverence, she asked him, "What are you staring at?" And his moment of truth had arrived.

"Yer hands." Sometimes, he thought the simplest answer was the best one.

"My hands?" Heather looked down at her hands and turned them, trying to figure out what Scotty was referring to. "What's wrong with my hands?"

"Oh nothing, lass," he answered, drying his own now. He took a step closer and she watched his face as he took both of her hands and studied them. "You have lovely hands. I've just now noticed." His gaze shifted to her eyes. "I bet ye give a man a great foot rub."

The color drained from Heather's face as she jerked her hands away, hiding them behind her and took a step back. She asked in astonishment, "How did you know it was me?"

Her expression made Scotty feel guilty. He hadn't meant to scare the poor girl. In his excitement at figuring out who "She" was, he hadn't realized Heather might think he'd be angry with her. He took a step to close the space between them. "I didn't know. Ye just told me."

Heather took another step back and bumped into the counter rambling, "I'm so sorry….I mean…I didn't intend for that to happen….when I saw your feet sticking out of the hatch I was just going to play a joke and maybe tickle your feet a little…but I just…I just…I got carried away."

While she spoke Scotty slowly closed the gap again until he was standing before her. He thought it was cute the way she tried to justify her actions. Then again he always thought she was a cute girl, although he'd never told her. But at that moment, for some inexplicable reason, he wanted nothing more than to kiss her and feel the touch of her beautiful hands. "Don't be sorry," he said softly. "Don't ever be sorry - I'm not."

Heather took a deep breath as though she were gathering her courage and blurted, "I was tempted to ask you out a couple of times….but then I was afraid you'd say no because you were too busy for me."

Scotty pried her hands away from their grip on the counter and with his eyes never leaving hers; he placed her hands on his hips then cupped her face in his. Heather stared at him in bewilderment. He thought how fragile she looked just then. She always seemed so confident about herself he'd forgotten how breakable she might be. He half expected her to slap his hands away by now but she didn't move at all. He let his fingers brush the side of her neck, feeling the swift pulse under her skin. There was something surreal about it all, a dreamlike quality. He didn't want it to end.

"Some temptations," Scotty explained gently, "shouldn't be resisted. Because they creep up on ye time and time again. Sometimes giving in is the only way to be rid of them."

The surrealness grew and his body reacted as his mouth descended on hers.

Finally, every muscle in his body seemed to sigh. Sinking into the feeling, Scotty let it take him away. And then Heather returned the kiss, curling her arms around his back, pulling him closer. One kiss began as another ended and her desire surged forward through him. Scotty ached for more. He was dying for the feel of her hands on his skin. He wanted to kiss every part of her.

_Control yourself, laddie. _

As much as Scotty hated to break away he did so a little at a time, letting his mouth trail along her jaw line, burying his face in her neck as he held her. "Ye see Heather?" he said still breathing roughly into her bobbed blonde hair, "Yer not the only one to get carried away."

As he leaned in to kiss her again, the intercom whistled and the strident Australian tones of the Chief Engineer said, _"Marsh to Ensign Scott." _

"Oh, hell. What is it this time?" Scotty muttered. He took a moment to run his thumb over Heather's lower lip before crossing to the intercom panel and pressing the button to connect him to engineering. "Scott here, Sir."

_"My office, Scott. Right away." _

Scott look over at Heather, whose grimace told him that she'd also caught the note of annoyance in the Senior Officer's voice. Oh well. Whatever it was, he'd best go and get it over with. Acknowledging Marsh's order, he switched off the comm channel and gave Heather an apologetic shrug. "Looks like dinner will have to wait."

"Problem is, he knows you're smarter than he is," she said, "Go on, you better run. I'll see you later."


	3. Chapter 3

3.

Scotty stood at parade rest in front of the Chief Engineer's desk, and directed his gaze at the cricket poster behind the man's head; "_Australia - Winners 2236 Ashes series_!" it proclaimed. Scotty was well aware that the banner was two series out of date, since England had won decisively in both 2240 and 2244, but decided this would not be a good time to mention it, since it was apparent that the Chief was already quite miffed enough.

"Mr. Scott, every time I send you to carry out a simple repair," Marsh was saying, "You turn it into a mission to reconfigure every connection within reach." He tapped the padd in front of him and Scott glanced down, seeing a list and some numbers on the screen, though he couldn't read them upside-down. "This is a list of the unauthorized changes you've made in the past month." He threw the padd across the desk, giving it a little twist so that it landed facing Scotty, and went on, "I want you to go back over every single one of those repairs, and return the connections to specification."

"But..." Scotty gaped at the list. "That will take_ days,_ sir. And..."

"When you've done that," Marsh went on, as though Scotty hadn't spoken, "You'll report back to me, and I will carry out a random inspection of your work to make sure you've done as you're told."

"But..."

"And when I'm happy that you've learned to carry out a simple order," said Marsh, getting to his feet and tugging at the bottom of his uniform jersey, "You can draw up a list of recommendations for increasing the ship's engineering efficiency, and improving systems connectivity."

"But..."

"There are no _buts_ about it, Ensign. When you've done _that_, and I have checked them, you will carry out any changes, and _only_ those changes, that I approve and authorize. Is that clear?"

Scotty sighed. "Aye, sir. It is."

As he picked up the padd, Marsh walked around the desk to stand next to him, and when he spoke again the Commander's voice was a little less harsh. "I've seen your record. I've seen your work. I know that you know what you're doing." He jerked a thumb at his chest. "But right now, _I'm_ the Chief Engineer, and _I_ need to know what you're doing, because if anything should go wrong with those re-wires, I'm the one whose head will be on the block. And if the axe man cometh for me, it'll be the end of your career too, Mister. Is _that_ clear?"

"Aye, sir, crystal. I _am_ sorry, sir."

Marsh acknowledged the apology with a small nod, and dismissed Scotty with: "You've got two weeks to get it squared away."

Standing in the corridor outside the office, Scotty scrolled through the list on the padd and comforted himself with the one consoling thought that came to mind: some of those access ways were _very_ secluded.

He decided he'd better take the padd to his quarters before he went in search of Heather. His grumbling stomach hoped she'd be in the mess hall. Other parts of his anatomy hoped she might have found a quiet spot on the Observation Deck, or maybe...

The door to his quarters slid open and he stopped with surprise when he saw Stevens rushing about the place like a dervish, tugging his uniform straight and finger-combing his curly fair hair.

"Hot date?" guessed Scotty, as the other man gave his boots a quick spit-polish.

"No - duty calls," said Stevens, "I swapped with Svenson - _he's_ got a hot date." He winked. "With the Andorian. And you know what they say about _them_."

Scotty didn't just know what they said, he could actually vouch for it, but he wasn't one to kiss and tell, so he just grinned and nodded, moving across the room to toss the padd onto the desk by his bunk. "What'd he promise ye in return? Bearing in mind that I'm still waiting for that case of single malt he promised _me_ last time he swapped?"

Stevens waved a hand dismissively. "Made sure I got payment in advance. Special Swedish vids." His eyebrows hopped up and down suggestively, in obvious anticipation. "And you know what they say about _them_ too!" He glanced in the mirror, gave the hem of his jersey a final tug, and headed for the door. "Don't bother looking for 'em, they're in my locker. See you tomorrow."

"Aye."

And as the door hissed closed behind Stevens' hurried exit, Scotty realized he had the room to himself. For eight whole hours. All he had to do now was find Heather, and ask her if she'd like to eat in.

No sooner than the door closed, it chimed. "Jesus, Mary and Joseph! What now?" Scotty grumbled, opening the door to a startled Heather Weiss.

"Have I interrupted something?" She asked cautiously. She stood before him with a covered plate on a tray.

"No, sorry bout that," he answered a little sheepishly. "As a matter of fact I was just coming to find ye." Scotty swept one arm back in a gesture for her to enter. "Welcome to Casa De Scott."

Heather smiled, breezed past him and set the tray on a table. He caught a whiff of something wonderful and tried to figure out if it came from the tray or from Heather. His stomach decided it was the tray. His groin decided it was Heather.

"Figured you _still_ haven't eaten yet so I brought you some grub." She pulled the cover off the tray and sat down in the opposite chair. "Nothing special I'm afraid. Just tomato soup, a couple grilled cheese sandwiches and tea- two sugars. I hope you still take it that way."

Scotty beamed at her as he took his seat. "Ye're an angel."

Heather shrugged. "I know, I know, What can I say? I'm a real swell gal. So what'd you get called on the carpet for this time?"

Scotty had already ravenously shoved half of one sandwich into his mouth, barely tasting the food before chewing and swallowing. "Oh, he wasn't too happy about some changes I made and wants me to put them back to spec."

"You know," she said resting her elbows on the table, "if you'd just play along for a few years and make rank as fast as they'll allow, you could be Chief someday and then you could make all the changes you want and no one would say boo about it."

"Ye're right. But every time I see something that I can make run more efficiently or faster, I just can't help myself."

"Ahhh, temptations. I understand - I really do. But if you would bother to get approval first, you'd save yourself an ass chewing."

They both remained quiet for a moment while Scotty finished the remainder of his dinner. He pushed the tray away, leaned back in his chair and patted his belly. "Thanks Heather," he said.

"You're welcome," she returned.

He continued, "For the dinner, the advice _and_ the foot rub."

Heather blushed. "You're never going to let me live that down are you?"

"Not a chance, lass. Do ye have any idea what kind of impure thoughts I've had since that day?" He leaned closer across the table and took her hands, turning them in his, studying them. He pulled her until she got up from her chair and moved to sit in his lap, eager to pick up where they left off in the botany lab. Her body was light and compact and Scotty thought if she wasn't so busty, she might have been an excellent gymnast. That idea alone started a whole new flood of impure thoughts.

"Tell me about these thoughts-I'll be your priest," Heather said with the same sultriness she had used before. She rested her head against his shoulder and sighed. Scotty put her hand to his lips and kissed the tops of her fingers. If she was going to be his priest, he thought, he was going to confession every damn day.

"Forgive me Heather for I have sinned," he began earnestly and then smiled when she giggled. "I imagined what it would be like to have this lovely hand gliding gently over my chest."

Heather pulled her hand away placing it over his sternum and slowly stroked it across his pecs and back again. "Like this?" she whispered.

"Oh, aye, exactly like that." He sucked a deep breath in and released it slowly, letting his body relax under her touch.

Scotty glanced down at her, watching her face. Her blonde brows furrowed in concentration, her long lashes hooded her eyes. Her upper lip was almost as full as the lower one with delicate curves that reminded him of a baby doll. He wanted to tell her how pretty she was, woo her with sweet compliments. But before he could think of what to say, he felt her hand slide down lower to his abs sending chills over his body. He had an overwhelming urge to kiss her. He nudged her face up and settled his mouth possessively over hers. She was so soft and warm in his arms, he needed more. He teased her mouth open, letting his tongue sweep inside to mate with hers.

Heather's hand traveled down to Scotty's thigh and he growled low in his throat. So far, her touch felt exactly as he imagined and he could only hope the rest of her would too. His mouth slanted over hers again and again until he felt he could no longer breathe. Breaking the kiss, Scotty was stunned. They stared at each other both panting for air. She had such a lustful expression and her lips were swollen from his kisses. Scotty wanted to kiss her again and he knew that he would not be content until she was stripped naked lying beneath him in his bed.

Scotty shoved an arm under her legs, another around her shoulder, hoisted her up in his arms and stood up from his chair. He carried her over to his bunk but before he put her down he asked, "Ye okay with this?"

Biting her bottom lip, Heather nodded, "Uh huh."

Scotty laid Heather down and began undressing her. He pulled off boots, nylons and science blue. Soon she was wearing nothing but a blush on her pale skin and it made him smile. He began to undress himself and Heather rose up on her knees to help him. He kicked off his boots and toed off his socks. She pulled his uniform jersey over his head and unfastened his trousers. Then, just as he had imagined, she jerked his black regulation undershirt out of his waistband and slid those soft, cool hands underneath the fabric. As her hands moved up his chest he began to tingle everywhere. He felt so damn good when she touched him he thought he would go mad. He let out a groan mingled with laughter. How she'd managed to remove his undershirt, trousers and skivvies without him realizing it was beyond him.

Heather moved over to give Scotty room and he settled beside her. He pulled her back into his arms and kissed her hungrily and deeply, shivering from the touch of her soft breasts against his chest. He felt her heart pounding and sighed from the heat of her body against his. She reached down to stroke the place where he ached for her the most, flinching at her touch. Heather giggled and continued to stroke him. Scotty placed his hand over hers guiding her in the ways he wanted to be touched. He tried to control the pace but it was so difficult. His heart pounded furiously. He was hard and hot and throbbing with the need to be inside her.

Scotty removed his hand from hers and cupped a breast high and hard. Tearing his mouth from her lips he closed it over a nipple, sending a sweet pain through her as she cried out with a voice that begged him to take her. Heather's response fueled his own desire and although he knew he was probably moving too fast, he could wait no longer. He rolled her to her back and stretched her body out beneath him. The sudden power he had over her caused his hands to shake, and he wasn't gentle at all when he pushed her legs apart, settling himself between her thighs. Covering her mouth with his, he lifted her hips with an arm and pushed into her. Thrusting deep, he penetrated her completely and captured her soft moan with another hungry kiss.

Scotty went still for a moment and took deep, ragged breaths to try and make himself slow down. She was so hot and wet and tight and perfect he was afraid to move. He nuzzled along her hair line, kissing her temple.

"Scotty?" She whispered his name, letting him hear a twinge of concern in her voice.

"It's alright, darlin'. Just let me…. ah, hell, you moved…"

She had shifted slightly, and he gasped at the sensation she caused. Heather giggled and moved again. Scotty groaned in reaction. He was planted solidly inside her, yet he battled the demands of his body. When she moved a third time the battle was over and lost. He slowly withdrew and sank deep inside her again.

She became instinctively wild, bucking against him and drawing her legs up to take him deeper. The more aggressive he became the more she responded. Sobbing his name and cursing over and over, she clung to him when the first fires of her climax ignited. She squeezed him tightly inside her, stoking his passion with each thrust. He raised himself over her and hung his head down to watch their bodies join. She lifted her head slightly and her eyes followed his. When his rhythm accelerated, Heather closed her eyes and her head dropped back against the pillow, lolling to one side. Scotty nipped at her exposed neck with his lips and teeth and felt her nails dig into his back. His body beckoned her to ride the swells of her climax with him, forcing a throaty cry from her lips. He grunted softly as his own climax neared, coming against her so hard he shoved her higher on the bed. With a violent shudder, he thrust deep one last time and collapsed over her breasts.

Their bodies slick with sweat, they lay there panting until he felt silent laughter lifting her chest.

He raised a weary head to meet her eyes.

"Look what we did to your bed." She rolled her head to peer past his shoulder and he craned his around to follow.

The coverlet and top sheet were completely gone. To where, Scotty did not know or care. The fitted sheet and mattress pad were both hanging over opposite sides of the mattress which was slightly askew on the box springs. It was a stark contrast to the condition of Stevens' bunk which sat, still neatly made in the other corner of their room. Stevens could keep his damn Swedish vids. Scotty knew he had the better deal.

He laughed and gathered her in his arms, rolling them to their side. One hand brushed her damp hair away from her face. "Was I too rough with ye?"

"Hell, no," she said flashing a brilliant smile. "That was exactly what I needed."

"Good," he said with a yawn.

"You realize this will change everything."

"It doesn't have to, lass. We can still be friends."

"Friends with benefits?" She asked.

"Aye, why not?"

Heather leaned up on an elbow so she could see him better. "But what if everyone finds out?"

Scotty knew then she was testing his loyalty and he understood. She was afraid he would brag and that could seriously damage a woman's reputation in Starfleet. He pulled her back down and tucked her neatly against his chest. "We'll be discrete but I don't care if the whole damn ship knows. And if anyone wants an explanation, I'll give em' one. In very graphic detail, using every dirty word I can think of."

"You would," she said. He felt the shape of her smile form against his skin and knew that before the night was over, he would have her again.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

The next few days were extremely busy ones for Scotty – and extremely frustrating, since his assignments from Commander Marsh gave him no time at all to be alone with Heather. It didn't help that Stevens was back 'on rota' – though at least that gave Scotty the opportunity to witness Stevens' outrage when he discovered that his precious 'Swedish vids' were nothing more than Tourist Information films. In the original Swedish.

"I'll take him apart!" Stevens raged, throwing the offending datatapes across the room, and swearing colorfully in several different languages.

Scotty sat back on his bunk and shook his head, laughing. "You can't. Leaving aside that he's built like a Tellarite sky-fortress, he delivered exactly what he promised: Swedish vids."

He pulled his padd onto his knee and scrolled through the next day's assignments. For once, the Chief had not overburdened him with new work, which meant that he could make some real progress with that annoying business of undoing all those improvements he'd made. For the job in the shuttle repair bay he'd have to get permission to… The idea hit him like a phaser-bolt and he smiled as he scheduled that particular task for the end of the shift.

Using the pretext of checking on the grow-lights he'd installed, Scotty stopped by the Botany lab first thing in the morning.

"It's okay – Lieutenant Carter's in the main lab checking some samples," said Heather, as he looked around to make sure they were alone, "So if you want to shag me senseless on the potting bench, you've got about three minutes."

Scotty grinned and bent to give her a swift kiss. "Tempting, but I can make ye a much better offer," he said, "Ever done it in zero gravity?"

He loved the way she blushed when she giggled, and the way her eyes flashed with delight at his suggestion before she covered her mouth with a hand and shook her head. "You're kidding – aren't you? I mean… how… _where_…?"

"I have to rip out some of the circuits I installed in the ceiling of the shuttle repair bay," he said, "Easiest way to get to them is to switch off the artificial gravity and float up there. I've got Chief Marsh's permission to commence work at the end of Alpha shift. So make sure ye get there as quick as ye can, because I have to seal the room before I go into free-fall."

Her blue eyes twinkled with mischief. "It'll give a whole new meaning to 'hanging around' while you finish your work," she said.

* * *

It was all Scotty could do to manage getting any kind of work done that day. His mind kept wandering to his last encounter with Heather and what the end of Alpha shift would bring.

He kept his work load as light as possible, completing the simpler tasks on his to-do list, so that he would have an easier time breaking away to meet with her later. And with an hour and a half left, he made his way to the repair bay to wait.

While he waited, Scotty busied himself preparing everything he would need to finish the job so that he wouldn't waste any time once Heather arrived. As the clock ticked closer to the end of shift he started to worry she may not make it. And then, she was there.

Scotty heard the doors slide open and turned to find Heather standing there in her PT gear. Even in the hideous ensemble he had to admit, she looked delicious. He held a hand out to her and when she took it he pulled her in for a kiss and cuddle.

"Did ye just work out?" He asked, eyeing the cleavage the zipped front of her suit left exposed.

"No, but I told Carter I was going to so he'd let me leave early."

"Clever lass," he said approvingly, wondering if she were wearing anything under that suit.

"You know, this isn't going to be like regular sex right? I mean Newton's Law of Motion, and all," she asked, frowning in concern.

"You mean the part about, 'To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction: or the forces of two bodies on each other are always equal and are directed in opposite directions? I've thought about that, and we'll just have to get creative. That includes taking our clothes off now, so they don't float round the room with us." He grinned as he matched his actions to his words, and stashed his uniform in a storage cabinet adding, "This'll be a first - I've never done repairs in my birthday suit before."

Heather giggled, as she peeled off her PT uniform. "Maybe you could set a trend?"

Scotty belted a tether around her narrow waist and checked it to make sure it wasn't so tight that it would bite into her skin when they went into free-fall. Strapping on his tool pouch, he tethered himself and began punching in the access codes to seal the doors and turn off the artificial gravity. Before they floated away from the deck, he took Heather by the hands and locked wrists with her.

Just then, the gravity mechanism powered down and their feet left the deck, floating them up into free-fall position, lifting their hair away from their heads.

"Whoa," Heather gasped and then she smiled. "I haven't done this since Basic Training."

Scotty let go of Heather's wrists and as she floated away, he tucked into a somersault and jerked the slack on his tether to stop himself. She imitated him and shrieked in laughter as she spun and brought herself back under control.

"But do you realize," she began to ask, "that you might have a hard time…you know, getting aroused?"

Heather was still experimenting with her new weightlessness but Scotty had already pulled himself along the gang-ladder and pushed off to the center of the compartment.

"Lass, I'm twenty-four years old, I'm _always _aroused," he said chuckling.

He glanced down to where she was still floating. "Holy shit! My boobs look huge!" She exclaimed in surprise, looking down at her chest.

"Darlin' yer boobs _are_ huge."

Scotty reluctantly turned back to his work, leaving her to play, and he was now in an even bigger hurry to finish. Suddenly the twenty minutes the job usually took seemed to take forever but before he knew it, he was snapping the last circuit out and stashing it in his pouch. That left them forty minutes together before the gravity powered back up.

He jerked the slack on his tether and propelled himself back to where he left her, grabbed her foot and spun her around to face him. She screamed another laugh and locked wrists with him again.

"Now," he began to explain, "If we push against each other, we'll float away. Especially since I'm bigger than ye. And we'll have to move very slowly or this won't work."

Heather nodded.

Scotty let go of her again but he did not push her, he simply released her hands. He reached into his pouch and pulled out an elastic cord. Then, he reached out for her hands again and began to slowly and agonizingly pull her as close as he could without pushing her away. He slipped the cord around her hips and hooked it behind his back. They were belly to belly now and the elastic would hopefully keep them together if they should push apart.

It was a major effort just to kiss her. They both had to be very aware of the pressure they were using and they struggled to hold on to each other even with the elastic. At one point, Heather tried to lock her legs around Scotty's hips which sent them into a spiral, tangling their tethers. The whole ordeal was frustrating yet humorous at the same time.

Eventually, Scotty pinned her into a corner but even then the results were minimal. They were able to manage a little groping which to him was about as gratifying as a dry hump on his parents couch with the neighbor girl when he was fifteen. It left both of them hot and bothered, but otherwise unsatisfied.

When he began to feel heavy again he knew the artificial gravity was starting to power back up. As much as he wanted to continue with their sexual experiment, he had to admit he was a little relieved. Although he didn't have a problem staying aroused, the effort wore him out and his patience was wearing thin.

He slid down the wall with Heather, dropping fast the last few feet and landing on his back with a thud. She landed a split second later on top of him, eyes wide with surprise.

"Well, shit!" She said disappointedly and moved to raise herself. Scotty refused to let her go. Instead, he pulled her back down, squeezed her and gave her a kiss. He would have been happy to have her right then and there where they could touch, rub and pound each other silly. But when he started to slide his hands across her back, she stopped him.

"Scotty?" She asked, looking everywhere around the repair bay but at him.

"Yes?" He replied cautiously.

"I don't think this is going to work out." She pushed herself off his body, trotted to the storage cabinet and pulled out her PT uniform.

"What?" He bolted upright.

"This is an epic failure," she began, as she yanked the uniform back on. Scotty felt a tightening in his chest at the thought that she might be dumping him. But then she smiled. "I can't think about physics and sex at the same time. It makes my brain hurt."

"Aye," he agreed. Although he couldn't help but think of his other parts that were hurting as well.

"I don't think I want to have sex on the deck either. You want to go back to my place?" She offered.

"What about yer room mate?"

"Tal'ia? She works nights."

He blinked up at her. "Why didn't you say so?"

"I was going to tell you this morning that she always worked nights, but you said you had a better offer," she countered, gesturing around the repair bay.

"I was wrong," he declared. She offered her hand and helped him up.

She laughed "Don't think I won't forget you actually admitting you're wrong about something," she said, as he pulled his clothes back on.

"Aye, but so were _you_, lass. The way I see it, we didn't fail. We simply learned about how _not_ to have sex in zero gravity."

"Didn't Thomas Edison say something like that?"

"Yes, lass," he agreed, ushering her out the door. " But I don't think he was talking about sex in zero gravity."

They made it to Heather's quarters in record time and as soon as the door closed behind them she leapt at him. Scotty caught her under her bottom, planting a hand on each butt cheek. She wrapped her legs around him the same way she attempted to in the repair bay and kissed him with a fury that took his breath away.

Scotty had no idea how they got into bed. He might have thrown her there. He was so completely out of control he thought of nothing but the two of them pleasuring each other until they passed out from exhaustion. Then he began the appealing duty of getting rid of their clothes again.

Once he had them both stripped, he knelt over her on the bed and kissed her sweet mouth. Scotty finally set out to explore her as he wanted to the first time he kissed her in the lab. His mouth trailed kisses down her throat and chest, stopping for a moment to enjoy her breasts. He licked the pink nipples one at a time, feeling them pucker and harden under his tongue. He sucked one into his mouth and gently fondled the other.

Heather let out a little moan of pleasure and twisted her fingers into his hair, pushing Scotty downward. He smiled against her baby smooth skin and continued kissing the flat of her stomach. He ran his tongue over her navel causing her to shiver and he knew he had found a sensitive spot there.

Scotty kissed his way down her legs and paid special attention to her toes and the soles of her feet. He nipped at the backs of her knees and dragged his tongue up the insides of her thighs. He laid down on his belly and pulled her legs up, resting her feet on his shoulders. His fingers thrust into her tightness and she moaned again. His thumb rubbed the delicate nub hidden between the folds and damp curls of her sex.

He watched her facial expressions change from bliss to agonizing pleasure and he whispered, "Does this make you happy?"

"Yes," she sobbed.

"Then _this_ should make you delirious." His mouth covered the very heat of her and he lavished his tongue on her. Her hips rose up to get more of his mouth. Heather pulled at his hair and her reaction nearly snapped his control. She was sweet and salty and woman. Scotty had never had a girl respond to him with such honesty and abandon. There was no fumbling or awkwardness. She was uninhibited and he wanted to please her in every way he could.

She seemed to come apart inside and when she cried out his name, his discipline vanished. He eased himself up, grabbed her ankles and spread her thighs wider. Heather knew what was coming and reached down to guide him in. He pushed inside, trying to be gentle this time but she would not allow it.

The sounds she made and the way she tried to grasp at him to pull him closer made him think of an angry cat. He laughed and she looked up at him, her blue eyes cloudy with passion, and demanded, "Shut up and fuck me."

The bed creaked from his hard thrusts and he buried his face in her neck as he obeyed her orders. And when Scotty felt she was close, he moved his hand to where their bodies joined and stroked her to help her find her orgasm first.

She cried out for a second time just as his own release consumed him. And when he was spent and could give her no more, he dropped beside her on his back panting for air. His heart felt like it was about to burst and yet, Scotty thought if that happened, he wouldn't care.

He had never experienced that kind of satisfaction with anyone before. He didn't think he would ever be able to hold back with Heather and for a moment that idea left him feeling a bit vulnerable.

She rolled her head on the pillow to look at him and said between ragged breaths, "Tomorrow…..when I go to work….I'm telling Carter….that I had the _best_ work out _ever_."

Scotty laughed, "You would."


	5. Chapter 5

5.

For the second time in a fortnight, Scotty stood in the Chief Engineer's office, though this time he was confident that he had carried out his orders to the letter, frustrating as that had been. He waited impatiently while Commander Marsh checked his own notes against the padd that Scotty had handed him, and tried not to fidget. At last, Marsh grunted with what might have been approval, looked up, and nodded.

"I do believe you're starting to get the message, Scott," he said, "Now, about those recommendations you gave me..." He slotted a data-tape into the padd, keyed it in and handed the padd back to Scotty. "These are the ones I've approved. Any questions?"

Scotty scrolled quickly down the list, noting with dismay that some of his most innovative suggestions had been crossed through. It took an effort to fight down the urge to ask why, but Marsh's tone had implied that he didn't expect any comeback, so he told himself that the Chief Engineer had to know best, bit down on his initial response and simply said: "No sir, no questions."

"Very well..." The comm whistle sounded, and Marsh broke off to answer it.

"I have a channel open to SCE Headquarters, sir, as you requested," Scotty heard the communications officer announce.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Hold for two minutes." Marsh's attention returned to Scott as he closed the connection, and Scotty hoped he might explain why he'd asked Lieutenant Wilson to contact the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. But instead, Marsh pointed at the data padd again. "We'll be at Sigma-Alpha Seven in four hours, Ensign. I'm not expecting you to begin work on any of that before shore leave starts. Once we're under way again, I'll assign Technicians Woodrow and Garibaldi to your work detail. I know you've had some command training, let's see you use it."

Scotty's heart sank at the thought of having to entrust some of his precious upgrades to a couple of technicians. Not that they weren't perfectly competent technicians, it was just that he knew damn well he could do the work faster on his own. As for the shore leave... ordinarily, Scotty would have been perfectly happy to skip it and start in on the work right away, but not this time.

He and Heather had plans for Sigma-Alpha Seven - or, as it was known colloquially, Water World. So for the second time in two minutes, he bit back a protest, acknowledged Marsh's order, and heaved a sigh of relief as he left the office.

* * *

Marsh watched him go, wondering whether he'd ever been that young and that keen. Thumbing the comm switch, he asked Wilson to open the channel to the SCE, and leaned forward in his chair as the viewscreen changed to show Commodore Tom Vlasyuk's bearded features.

"Good to see you, sir," said Marsh.

Vlasyuk waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. "Drop the formalities, Jeff, we go back too far. What can I do for you?"

Marsh keyed a switch to send a stream of data through to the other man. "Tom, I've got this genius kid on my crew who's come up with all sorts of ideas for improvements. I've approved all the ones I understand, but to be honest - " he shook his head, knowing what Vlasyuk's reaction would be to his next phrase " - the stuff I'm sending you now is out of my league. I'm hoping you've got somebody there who can make sense of it, tell me whether it's safe to implement."

As he'd anticipated, there was a shout of laughter from Vlasyuk. "Never thought I'd hear you admit that _anything_ was out of your league, Jeff! This genius kid got a name?"

"Scott," said Marsh, "Ensign Montgomery Scott. And if he doesn't get himself killed first, he'll likely end up doing my job - _and _yours."

* * *

The view-screen in the transporter room showed the planet they were orbiting - blue water, white clouds, and thousands of tiny green islands scattered around the equator like a belt of emeralds.

"Wow. No wonder they call it Water World," said Stevens, nudging Scotty as they stood waiting their turn to beam down. "So who is she anyway?"

"Who?" Scotty looked round as though the question might have been addressed to someone else.

"C'mon! The girl you're going with. And _don't_ tell me there isn't anyone, 'cos I know how often you've slept in your own bed the past couple weeks." Stevens dropped his kitbag at his feet and folded his arms. "Besides which, we've got 72 hours down there, and you don't even have a kitbag."

Scotty shrugged. "The vid said they provide everything," he said, hoping he sounded nonchalant enough.

"Yeah - everything _except clothes_," said Stevens.

"I must have missed that bit," Scotty deadpanned, "Oh well, I'll just have to make do."

Stevens snorted. "I'm sure you'll do just fine. Me, I'm going to make for the main island, see if I can find me a nice local girl."

The group ahead of them beamed away, and Stevens led the way as they took their places on the transporter pads. Scotty could see Heather waiting in the next group, and gave her a wave. "Have fun, Heather!" he called, as though they were still _just_ friends.

"You too!" she called, giving him a wave as the transporter started to hum.

A few seconds later, he was stepping off the planet-side platform into a carpeted lobby. There was a large sign hanging from the ceiling which rotated a message in six different languages: 'Reception: Welcome to Water World', and Scotty followed the rest of the group across to the line of desks, where they would put in their requests for onward travel. The planet's islands had hundreds of thousands of private coves along their shores and, although Starfleet didn't get the pick of them, even the 'standard' accommodations were in stunning locations. And for a small ship like the _Churchill_, there were enough coves for the entire crew to have one each if they chose to.

Scotty picked out a Reception desk a little away from the other crew, stated his name and rank for the retina-scan register, and murmured, "I'll be traveling with Ensign Heather Weiss. I think she's just beaming in now."

"Certainly, sir." The clerk pushed a couple of keys and said: "Luggage?"

"None."

The clerk - an Arcturan, Scotty guessed - didn't even blink. "You're aware, sir, that we don't provide..."

"Clothes. Aye. I got that. Thanks."

The Arcturan pressed another key, and a data-tape slid out of a slot at the front of the desk. "Destination is encoded on the tape, sir, the onward beam-out chamber is to your left, you may travel as soon as your companion has completed her registration process. Please remember to use the sunscreen hypos provided each morning. Further information and instructions can be found on the computer at your Beach Lodge. Have a nice stay."


	6. Chapter 6

6.

Heather laughed as she splashed in the water. She and Scotty had played in it like kids almost since the moment they arrived. They stopped long enough that morning to order provisions and drop of her bag in their bungalow, which she had told him in utter amazement, reminded her of something out of _The Swiss Family Robinson._

She gaped at him when she realized he hadn't brought any clothes. But it was his turn to gape at her when she stepped out of the bedroom wearing a hot pink string-bikini. Scotty had seen her stark naked plenty of times over the past few weeks and he could vouch for the fact this pink contraption she was wearing didn't leave much to the imagination.

Two pink triangles of fabric were barely enough to cover her voluptuous breasts and the bottoms were cut so low the two little dimples above her butt were showing. The bikini was tied to her body with thin, spaghetti strings and once they were waist deep in the water, it only took a spilt second for Scotty to untie the whole thing and throw it as far as he could into the sea.

"Hey! You did that on purpose!" She exclaimed as she watched her bikini float off into the horizon.

"Yep," he grinned. "If I'm naked, you should be naked."

"That deserves a dunking," she said launching herself at Scotty driving him back in the water.

He was a little steadier on his feet than her though, and he wrapped his arms around her, taking her back with him. And then he did something he imagined doing all morning. He kissed her, gently tugging on her lips and teasing her mouth with his tongue. She slid her arms around his neck and pressed her lips more firmly against his. Once again Scotty fought to control himself. He wanted to take her slow and easy, knowing they had three whole days to do whatever they wanted with each other and he wanted to savor every minute.

As much as he had daydreamed about this since they had first made travel plans, daydreaming could not compare. The water made him feel much more sensitive as her body drifted against him in the water. This was exactly how he hoped things would work out in zero gravity. But he couldn't find the energy to be disappointed about that anymore when he knew this was so much better. What more could a lad ask for than a warm, tropical island with a balmy ocean breeze that was just the right climate for getting naked and making love to a bonny lass at the beach? And even for crew accommodations, he had to admit it was private. No one would bother them here. And there was no one else in the galaxy he wanted to experience it with more than Heather.

She broke the kiss and gasped against his mouth, "If this is a dream, and you pinch me, I'll have to kill you."

She moved against him and he grunted, "Yer already killing me."

Heather smiled and swung her legs around his hips, urging him closer to the edge, teasing him, until she positioned herself and sank down on his erection. The water made her movements sluggish, dragging out every incredible sensation of mind blowing pleasure. Scotty closed his eyes as the intensity hit him full force and when he could take no more, he pushed all the way in with a swift thrust. She cried out in startled pleasure.

"Ye like that Heather?" he asked moving his hips so the water bounced her gently against his hips. "Is this what ye wanted?"

"Ohhhh God, yes," she moaned. "Please."

Her words resonated with something lustful. He felt it in his core and he demanded, "Please what, Heather?"

"Please…make me come…" she cried. And that was all it took.

Sensations fired through his body, gathering at his spine in a tangled mass. He came undone.

_So much for slow and easy._ He didn't know why he bothered trying.

He unleashed himself on her, giving himself up to those sensations. His jaw clenched as he concentrated on his movements and his eyes locked on to her sweet face. The sight of her flushed cheeks and half-lidded eyes coiled him tighter. The water swirled around them, caressing their bodies like a thousand butterfly wings.

Scotty's heart pounded, the pressure inside him nearly boiling with each hitch of her breath.

Heather dropped her head back and he devoured her neck.

"Scream for me," he murmured against her throat. "I want to hear ye scream."

Her body started to shudder and she screamed to God and every other deity that was listening. The whole planet stopped and for one moment all he could see was her. All he could feel was her. A powerful climax roared inside him and they shattered together against the rolling waves.

They stayed that way long after it was over, allowing the tide to gently push them towards the shore. The ocean cooled their feverish bodies and when he pulled away from her she protested and reached for him. He gathered her in his arms, carried her up the beach and lay down with her in a hammock. Letting the warm breeze dry their skin, they napped in the shade.


	7. Chapter 7

7.

Half-asleep, Scotty rolled over on the massive bed, automatically reaching, hungry for more of Heather's warmth. When his hand landed on a cool sheet, he squinted open one eye, then the other, and sat up, blinking. He'd barely had time to wonder where she'd got to than she appeared from the bathroom, tying up the halter-neck on a white sundress that clung to her in all the right places. Normally, Scotty would have slavered over the choice of outfit, but today…

"What the hell have ye put that on for, lass? We've got till lunchtime, day after tomorrow, all to ourselves. Not that ye don't look bonnier than an Easter parade, but I know ye look even better naked." He lay down again and held out a hand. "Take it off, darlin' and come back to bed."

She smiled and shook her head, tucking a stray lock of blonde hair behind an ear as she went to the chest of drawers at the foot of the bed. "Scotty, we can't spend the entire three days having sex!"

He was baffled. "Why not?"

Heather giggled, while she pulled his black uniform t-shirt and pants out of a drawer and threw them onto the bed. "Well, for one thing, I'll get sore! Especially if we keep doing it in the sand like we did yesterday – you have _no idea_ the places that stuff can find its way into."

Scotty grinned. "Ye could come over here and show me?"

She turned and put her hands on her hips. "Or you could put those on and we could go shopping."

"_Shopping!" _He sat bolt upright and ran a hand back through his hair, shaking his head in disbelief. "Are ye _mad_, woman? Ye want to take me _shopping?_"

"Aw, come on, Scotty, it'd only be for couple of hours! I always go shopping on shore leave – pick up some souvenirs, some local produce, meet a few locals." Her voice had that wheedling tone his sister always used when she wanted him to give her a ride into Aberdeen. That had always been 'just a couple of hours' too. It never was. His skepticism must have shown on his face, because Heather leaned over the bed, kissed him, and lowered her voice to a breathy whisper, "We'll be back here by lunchtime, I promise. And I'll be… ever so grateful."

Scotty scowled, realizing that he'd get no sex this morning whether they went shopping or not. "How grateful?"

Heather sat down on the bed and looked him in the eye. "How grateful would you like me to be?"

"Well, I'll have to give the details some thought," he said, his head already buzzing with ideas, "But since I'm having to cut back on the _quantity_, ye'll have to make it up to me with extra quality and variety."

She smirked. "You're outrageous, Mr. Scott."

He picked up the t-shirt and pants. "So are you, Ms. Weiss – thank God!"

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this!" Scotty muttered, as he and Heather made their way through the crowded open-air market on the Big Island. There seemed to be an endless number of colorfully-awned stalls, arranged in a grid pattern that Heather was doggedly exploring on a row-by-row basis.

When they'd beamed in to the island's transporter terminal, she'd pointed him at the Tourist Information shop and told him to buy subspace postcards, while she went off to buy him shorts and flip-flops. He'd changed in the Gents, dropped his uniform into the bag the shorts had come in, and was judged fit to be seen on the streets. Now, he was trailing after Heather as she ricocheted from stall to stall, gasping over the color of a fabric here, exclaiming over the price of a hideous souvenir there, and generally giving the impression that she was having fun.

"So what do you _usually_ do on shore leave then?" Heather asked, as she stuffed a WaterWorld GlowGlobe into one of the bags he had somehow ended up carrying, "Assuming that you don't always have your very own Botanic Sciences Ensign on hand to have sex with?"

"Right now, I _don't_ have my very own Botanic Sciences Ensign on hand to have sex with," he pointed out, "Because we're standing in the middle of the biggest tourist-trap tat market on the planet – possibly in the entire quadrant. But to answer your question – " She had started walking again and he strolled after, trying to ignore the noise of the traders' call-horns, the jostling crowds, and the smell of whatever it was they were cooking on the next stall over. "- if ye weren't with me, I'd have likely found a decent bar and had a few drinks."

She glanced over her shoulder. "That's it? Just… sit in a bar, drinking?"

"Aye - till I find a nice lass to have sex with."

Heather shook her head, laughing. "Why did I even ask? You're a red-blooded male, what else would you be doing on shore leave?"

"Well, maybe now you've given me the taste for it, I'll go shopping next time."

"Really?" For a moment she actually looked as though she believed him.

Scotty shook his head. "No. Not really. Can we go back to the beach now? We've been here for hours!"

"One hour and ten minutes." She lifted her arm to show him her wrist-chrono.

"That's broken. Must be. I'll take a look at it for ye when we get back to the ship."

There was a slight thinning of the crowd as they reached a cross-way, and Heather stopped, turned, and put a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry. You really are bored out of your skull aren't you?"

"What gave it away?"

She took one of the bags from him and looped the straps over her shoulder. "We'll get to the end of this row, okay? Then we'll go."

"Aye, alright, but it might be better if we split up. I'll take a parallel course down the next row over and meet you on the corner at the top end."

"But why…?"

Scotty jerked his chin in the direction they'd been heading. "Because Tal'ia and Lieutenant Svenson are right over there."

"Oh, ppsshh!" She said, waving her hand dismissively. "I wouldn't worry about them."

Heather took another bag from Scotty, then laced her fingers through his and gave him a peck on the lips. "And anyway," she finished, "I'm tired of sneaking around."

"No more hiding?"

"No more hiding," she confirmed.

Scotty's face broke into a wide grin. He couldn't resist the sudden urge to shop. He started to pull Heather down the row of stalls. "Where are we going?" He heard her ask as they squeezed through another crush of tourists. He ignored the question, leading her past more stalls until he found the one he wanted. A vendor selling jewelry.

"I want to buy ye something to remember this trip. Pick something," he told her, gesturing to the tables and glass cases filled with jewels and precious metals from all over the galaxy. Heather tried to argue with him, telling him it wasn't necessary but Scotty shut her down.

"If I want to buy something for my girl, I'll buy her something. I just thought she might like to have some input," he insisted.

"I'm your girl?" Heather asked skeptically.

Scotty rolled his eyes and recounted, pressing a finger to his chin. "Well, let's see….over the last few weeks…..we've slept together countless times…we're on shore leave together…I let you drag me out of bed and put clothes on to go _shopping_…..I'm _trying_ to buy you jewelry, which by the way I think it's very odd that ye'd even resist that considering all the other things ye've bought today…." He held the bags up that he'd been carrying to prove his point. "So aye, I think that makes ye _my_ girl."

Heather looked at him, her blue eyes glittering. She didn't seem sure of what to say. Scotty wondered if he had moved things a little too quickly for her. And then she smiled.

Scotty pressed a kiss to her hand. "Now pick something, lass so we can go home and you can show me how ever so grateful you really are."

Heather seemed to go for the bracelets. After looking at necklaces, rings, earrings, and just about everything else the vendor had to offer she kept coming back to a thin, silver linked bracelet with small, blue and green polished gems set between the links. Scotty and the vendor haggled over the price and finally made a deal. He paid the man and happily clasped it around Heather's wrist.

"There!" He said with finality, "Ye've got something to remember me by."

Heather reached her arms around his neck, knocking him with her bags and said between a few sweet kisses, "I don't think I could ever forget you or this trip. No matter how hard I might try."


	8. Chapter 8

8.

Scotty awakened on his third day of shore leave to the sound of rain falling lightly against the roof of the bungalow. After their shopping expedition the day before, they picnicked on the beach, built an enormous sandcastle and sat and watched as the tide washed it away. They played in the surf as the sun went down and made love in the shower before they drifted off to sleep together in bed. They couldn't have asked for a better vacation.

Blinking, Scotty registered his surroundings, the contemporary bedroom; the warmth of Heather's back pressed against his chest. He lay quietly with his arm draped over her hip, wondering if she were awake. The slow steady rhythm of her breathing didn't change but eventually she took his hand and drew it up across her chest and held it there. He felt her heart beat under his hand and felt his own heart skip a beat with the realization that he could possibly be falling in love with her.

Gently he settled in closer and rested his face against her hair. Scotty tried to remember if there had ever been another time in his life when he felt this content to be still and quiet. No, he decided. Nothing in his memories even came close. Was that love? He wasn't sure about that yet.

They watched the rain run down the windows in silence until she sighed. Scotty murmured, "Ye like the rain?"

"Yes," she answered quietly.

"Even if it ruins yer plans for today?"

Heather nodded. "I'm glad it's raining. We never have days like this on the ship."

"Yer right about that." He kissed the tender juncture of her shoulder and neck and she shivered, scooting closer to his warmth. He drew the covers up, covering her bare shoulder and gave her a slight squeeze. "Some things are just made for rainy days."

"Yeah, like reading."

"Or sleeping in," he added.

"Or this."

"Definitely this." Heather turned in his arms and snuggled against his chest. "I say, we stay here until it stops raining. And if it rains all day, then we stay here all day."

The rain continued beating steady against the bungalow as Scotty considered her suggestion. He took her hand and kissed it, fingering the bracelet on her wrist. Her breath was warm against his neck. Her familiar scent was all around him, slightly floral and clean. Her hand moved over his hair and down his back in one long stroke. That was all it took to get him to agree with her. "Mmmmm….I think I like that idea, Heather."

"I knew you would.

He let her explore him at will, while his skin turned feverish and his breath came more rapidly. Heather spread her fingers wide and let them trail over his hips and thighs. She brought her hands up to his groin, fondling him, stroking him, gripping the length of him.

Scotty rolled to his back to allow her access and she slid her leg over his hips to straddle him.

His breath caught as he felt her hand slip between their hips and guided him into her body. His entire body prickled with excitement. Heather made a satisfied moan, her eyes closing as she seemed to concentrate on taking him deeper. She was so snug and warm it almost took his breath away. And then came the slow wonderful slide of hardness in softness.

Scotty watched her carefully find and sustain a rhythm, her body lifting and settling over his. He gripped her hips and tilted his own, adjusting the angle between them. He knew she felt the difference when she gasped. "Oh," she breathed sharply. "That's good."

He was mesmerized with the power she had over him as she used her body to pleasure him. The warmth of her thighs pressed against his contrasted with the coolness of her hand on his chest. He truly was in Paradise.

Reaching up for her, he drew her down. "Kiss me," he pleaded in a whisper, guiding her lips to his, slowly exploring her mouth with his tongue.

Heather shuddered with her release, her hips grinding against his as she took him fully. Scotty gave himself up, catching her rhythm and riding it. His breath stopped on a groan, letting her pull his climax from him in a great surge.

Heather relaxed over him and he ran his hands down her sweat dampened back, his fingertips gently traveling to her bottom.

She lifted away from him to move off the bed. "I have to get up," she said huskily.

Scotty caught her by the arm and pulled her back down, pinning her to the bed. "Ye said we could stay in bed all day and don't think I haven't forgotten that ye still owe me for that _excursion_ ye made me submit to yesterday…."

"Scotty," she cut him off. 'I have to pee like a Russian racehorse and you're starving."

Scotty opened his mouth to protest just as his stomach let out a loud growl. Heather giggled.

He rolled off her and let her up listing his demands as she ran for the bathroom. "I want breakfast in bed….and then I'll have you for breakfast in bed….and then I want another foot rub since ye about walked me legs off yesterday…"

"You're a pain in the ass, you know that?" He heard her shout from the bathroom.

Scotty leaned back in the pillows, resting his head on his arm and shouted back, "As if ye would have me any other way!"

* * *

To: Scott, Montgomery J. ENS SFC NCC 864/ ENG

Sent: 13 July, 2246 8:03 AM

From: Weiss, Heather L. ENS SFC NCC 864/BS

Subject: Thank you

Scotty,

Just wanted to let you know once again how much I enjoyed our leave time together.

Thank you for sharing it with me and thank you for the bracelet. I will treasure it always

Affectionately Yours,

Sandi Fajina

* * *

To: Weiss, Heather L. ENS SFC NCC 864/BS

Sent: 13 July, 2246 8:15 AM

From: Scott, Montgomery J. ENS SFC NCC 864/ENG

Subject: RE: Thank you

Dearest Sandi,

The pleasure was all mine.

Always,

Sunny Backside


	9. Chapter 9

9.

"Sorry I'm late." Scotty put his lunch tray down on the Rec. room table and swung into the seat next to Heather, "I stopped by sickbay to see Stevens. Boy, is he grumpy!"

Heather laughed and reached over to spear a pasta shell on her fork, ignoring Scotty's protests and slapping hand. "He's just cross because you came back from Water World with an all-over tan and a smirk, and all he got was a nasty rash and a 'Kiss-Me-Quick' hat," she said, turning her attention back to the salad on her own plate. "How much longer is he going to be in sickbay anyway?"

Scotty grinned. "At least another 24 hours, Doctor Chandra says. So you can come over to mine again tonight. If ye want to that is?"

"Hmm. I'll have to think about that," she said, her face a picture of concentration as she nibbled on a slice of cucumber. After a couple of seconds, she nodded thoughtfully and added, "Yeah, okay, you talked me into it. Charmer." She smiled, and passed it on with a quick kiss. "I'll have to be up early though. Carter's put my name on the Landing Party roster for Delta-Gamma Five and there's a briefing at oh-eight-hundred."

Her plate was empty and she pushed her tray aside, resting an elbow on the edge of the table as she half-turned toward Scotty. He could see by the shine in her eyes that she was pleased and excited to be on an exploration team, and he ate his pasta silently as she enthused about the possibilities for botanical and medical discoveries. He was half-way through his cheesecake dessert before she said: "You're not really following any of this are you?"

"I'm getting the salient points," he said, spooning in another mouthful and talking around it, "Rainforest canopy that would cover Earth... millions of undiscovered specimens... opportunity to observe a primeval ecology..." He finished the dessert and licked the spoon, then sat back and folded his arms. "Ye _also_ said that preliminary surveys indicated that there's very little animal life down there…."

She gave his arm a gentle punch. "You _were_ listening!"

"Just because I majored in Physics and Warp Engineering doesn't mean I didn't attend the occasional Life Sciences lecture," he said. He leaned closer to her and lowered his voice as he added, "And you know how much I _love_ biology homework."

Heather giggled. "Well, you'll have to make the most of tonight's anatomy revision," she said, "Because after that I'll be on Delta-Gamma Five for 72 hours."

Scotty sighed, brushing his fingers against her face for a moment as he tucked a stray lock of blonde hair back behind her ear. It was going to be a long three days. "Good thing I've got plenty to do," he said.

* * *

With Heather planet side, Scotty was glad to be able to lose himself in his work. Thanks to Commander Marsh's orders, he had maintenance to carry out for a third time – he'd done the repair (with improvements), the repair (minus improvements) and now he was doing the repair with improvements again. It was annoying but, as Heather had pointed out to him, if he ever made Chief Engineer, he likely wouldn't want anyone messing with _his_ ship without his approval. So, much as he begrudged repeating the work, he was beginning to understand why Marsh had made him do it. And it helped to pass the time. By working through Beta shift as well as Alpha, he was able to make good progress, and tire himself out enough to doze off right away when he got to bed.

He kept tabs on what was happening planet side by monitoring the reports that were being sent up hourly by the landing party. He didn't understand all the jargon, but the summaries were easier to grasp, and they were bursting at the seams with descriptions of exotic flora. The exhilaration of new discoveries colored every phrase, and Scotty was reminded that one of the reasons he had joined Starfleet was their goal of exploring strange new worlds.

He was delighted for Heather that she was getting the chance to participate in something as monumental as stepping where no-one else had, finding plants that no-one else had ever seen, hadn't even known existed until now.

"Don't you think this is amazing?" he said to Stevens, as they manned the transporter console for the third afternoon. They were beaming up specimens of the plants that had been identified as potentially useful for colonization on other planets, and a few that might prove to be medicinal. The large specimen that had just materialized looked like a meter-high purple pineapple, and the landing party had reported that it made good eating and grew all over the place.

Stevens shrugged, and gave his arm a scratch. His rash had cleared up, Scotty knew, but the effects apparently lingered. "Seen one plant, seen 'em all," he said, moving around the console to help the botany lab technician fix a couple anti-gravs to the "pineapple's" waxy flesh.

"But Kevin, no-one in the _entire galaxy_ has ever set eyes on those things before," said Scotty, "Our team is only doing an ancillary survey to check out whether it's worthwhile establishing a permanent science station, but they've identified _thousands_ of new life-forms already. Doesn't that make you feel part of something important?"

Switching on the A-gravs and grabbing one of the handles to help maneuver their cargo, Stevens shook his head and gave Scotty a pitying look. "If I'd wanted to be a glorified gardener I'd have stayed on the farm," he said, steering the plant through the parting transporter room doors. Just before they closed behind him he added, with a knowing wink, "Problem with you is you've been spending too much time in the Heather."

* * *

Scotty slid open the end access panel of the _Churchill's_ auxiliary maintenance tunnel, shone his wrist-light into the hatchway, and picked out the circuits that he'd been authorized to upgrade. "Here we go again," he muttered.

Still, it wasn't as though he had anything better to do for the next few hours. Heather had promised to have dinner with him later, but she'd volunteered for double-shifts too since she got back from Delta-Gamma Five.

"Scotty, it was just overwhelming down there," she'd told him as they got dressed that morning, "It'll take years… no, a lifetime… no _several_ lifetimes to get it all identified and analyzed. There aren't just whole new orders and species - we're having to come up with new Classes for the some of the varieties! Do you know how rarely that happens? Last time was when we colonized Rigel. And I can't _wait_ to start studying the Singers..."

"Singers?" He'd been pulling his boots on as she came out with that, and he'd thought she was testing to see if he was listening again. "Singing plants? Ye're having me on!"

"No, really! The tricorders registered these incredible sound waves at hypersonic levels, and when we adjust them to a pitch we can hear, it sounds like A Capela singing. Commander Wu is going to recommend that the permanent Science Team includes linguists as well as plant specialists."

"Ye mean some of those things were... _communicating_? They might be intelligent?"

She'd waved her hairbrush at him before turning to look in the mirror. "We don't know, yet. They seem to be communicating with each other, but it could be just on an instinctual level. Isn't it _fascinating_ though?"

And Scotty had to admit that it was, though he was happy to leave the in-depth analyses and specifics to the botanists. He didn't share Heather's enthusiasm for the details of photosynthesis or the cellular make-up of seed-pods, but he _understood_ it. Her passion for plants matched his for engineering - they both wanted to know the _why_ and the _how_, both wanted to discover and innovate. It was why he was falling in love with her, and why he was trying so hard not to, because he knew that one day those differing interests, their different passions, would see them go separate ways. That was why it was better to keep relationships on a strictly recreational level - fun, light, easy to sever when the need arose.

Scotty sighed, and pulled his thoughts back to B Deck's lighting circuits. Peeling off his uniform jersey, and selecting the tools he would need from the tool case he'd brought with him, he laid down and wriggled his arms and shoulders through the hatchway.

He'd been working steadily for a half-hour or so when he felt something - someone - brush his legs. This time it was easy enough to recognize the giggling as Heather's, and he laughed as he felt her pulling off his boots.

"Going to give me another foot rub, lass?"

"Well, I thought I'd start there," she answered, pulling off his socks, "But I haven't forgotten what you told me you imagined. So…"


	10. Chapter 10

10.

It was engineering's environmental control console that saved his life.

One moment Scotty was on his knees checking circuits under the panel on the engineering mezzanine; the next, he was deafened by the noise of an explosion on the main deck. He was lifted off the deck and pushed further inside the console interior. Pain seared down his left side, and he felt the scorching heat of flames engulfing the floor below as the entire ship shook.

_What the hell was that? _

Even as he lay half-stunned, and scared beyond his wildest nightmares, the answer came to him: dilithium rupture. Had to be. Unpredictable. Cataclysmic. And, unless the warp core was jettisoned within the next four minutes, it would mean the obliteration of the _Churchill_ and everyone in it.

Scotty pulled himself out from under the console, yelling with agony as the pain shot up his left leg and side. His left arm didn't hurt at all, which was strange given it was hanging uselessly from his shoulder at a very odd angle. The initial fires had died back as the auto-suppressors had kicked in, and Scotty felt cold, though he was covered in sweat. Staying on his right side, he dragged himself to the edge of the mezzanine and looked out across what was left of the main deck.

The blackened, ragged hole in the dilithium containment chamber confirmed his initial suspicions. Around it, consoles sparked and smoked, accompanied by the incessant bleat of the alert siren. The Captain's voice was sputtering from the damaged comms panel: "..ridge… eering… wha… own there? …. arsh… ? Jeff, wh…"

Help would be on the way, Scotty knew. Beta and Delta shifts would be here any minute, along with the medics…Then he remembered.

The deck was sealed off. It was an emergency contingency, in case of radiation. There would be checks to make and scans to be run by the teams outside before they could override the automatic systems and get in. They would not take long, but in the current situation any delay would be fatal for everyone left on board.

With a groan, Scotty reached down to the second rung down on the mezzanine ladder and, gritting his teeth against the pain, rolled off the edge of the higher platform, catching his weight with his good right arm and then dropping to the deck below. He staggered as he landed, then slipped in something. Blood.

He hadn't been able to see it from above because of the smoke, but there was no mistaking it now. Red-black puddles leaked from the scorched bodies that littered the deck, the coppery smell of the oozing liquid mingling with the unmistakable stench of burnt flesh. He coughed as the lingering smoke hit the back of his throat, and his stomach heaved. Scotty gave up the fight not to vomit, staying on his knees as he retched, then dragged a sleeve across his mouth as he forced himself to ignore the mess and concentrate on getting to the warp core controls. The smoke cleared a little, and he blinked streaming eyes and shook his head as he fought another wave of nausea. He could see now that the consoles down here were all fried.

He would have to do this manually. He'd have to go into the warp-core chamber and engage the emergency ejection switch from there.

Using the console to pull himself to his feet, he aimed himself at the doorway to the warp-core chamber and, as he willed his injured leg to carry him those last few yards, time seemed to telescope. Scotty wasn't sure whether that was due to his own distress and injuries, or whether it was a residual effect of the shattered dilithium's fourth-dimensional fractal. Either way it seemed to take forever to reach the doorway and when he finally dragged himself close enough to start keying in the emergency access code, his movements were sluggish as well as agonizing. Still, he told himself, trying to push the pain aside as he pressed another key, in a few moments it wouldn't matter. If he couldn't reach the manual jettison switch in time, the whole ship would be vapor; if he succeeded, the radiation he'd be exposed to would kill him. But the ship would be safe.

_Heather…_

His breathing was getting ragged and he felt lightheaded. It was becoming an effort to focus, but all he needed to do now was...

A hand gripped his wrist, pulling his hand away from the panel, and Scotty turned to find the bloodied features of Commander Marsh looking down at him as the Chief guided him gently to the floor. "Oh no you don't, mister. If anyone's going to be a hero around here, it's gonna be me."

"Sir! _No_...!"

But Marsh had already stepped between Scotty and the doorway, and slapped his hand onto the final 'unlock' key. Scotty could do nothing but look on, helplessly. As the door slid shut behind his Chief, he closed his eyes, and let the pain overwhelm him.

* * *

The comm speaker in the warp containment chamber squawked, and Jeff Marsh knew who would be on the other end of it even before he heard the Captain's voice: "Commander Marsh?" A pause. "Jeff?"

Marsh decided it was too much of an effort to get off his knees. He managed a kind of wave in the direction of the monitor feed, on the off-chance it was still recording, and crawled to his left to press the comm switch on the panel. "Still here, Skip. Just about."

"We're all still here, Jeff – thanks to you. The radiation levels in there are dropping fast, we'll be in to get you…"

Marsh shook his head. "Won't matter." He examined the radiation burns on his hands, and found himself wondering why they didn't hurt as much as the bump on his head where the initial explosion had thrown him against the auxiliary bypass panel. "I'll be dead by the time you can get in here. We both know that."

"Jeff…"

"No, let me finish. It's important. Is Scott okay?"

There was another pause, and Marsh guessed the Captain was consulting someone else, Chandra maybe. After several more seconds of the remaining minutes of his life had ebbed by, the comm crackled again. "Chandra says it's touch and go. He'll do what he can."

"He'd better. Jeez, you think I'd have come in here instead of him if I didn't think he was worth something?"

A chuckle. Kind of forced. "Sure you would. You're too good an officer…"

"Quit with the bullshit, Skip and listen." Marsh shifted his position so that he was sitting with his back propped against the wall by the doorway. "I ever tell you about Mark Finney? Greatest batsman I ever saw. And you know what? He was English." He shook his head, closed his eyes and leaned his head back, remembering the sun, the breeze, and the manicured green of the Melbourne Cricket Ground outfield. "Didn't matter that he was a pommie bastard, or that he was creaming our best bowlers all over the field. He just kind of… _magicked_ the ball where he wanted it to go. It was a privilege to just sit there and watch him. Course, there were other batsmen helping him out at the other end, but nobody really remembers them, same as no-one remembers who batted with Don Bradman back in the 1930s. Because Bradman was a genius, and they weren't. You listening, Skip?"

That crackle again. Someone would have to fix that. "I'm here, Jeff."

"Yeah, well, the point is… if they sold tickets to watch engineers work, Scott would be the one they'd be queuing up to see. Not me." He sighed, coughed, gathered his thoughts again. "Young Scott… he's Don Bradman. Sachin Tendulkar. Mark Finney. I'm the middle-order grafter that no-one will remember."

"That's not true, Jeff. The crew of the _Churchill_ will all have reason to remember you – for the rest of their lives."

Marsh wanted to argue, but couldn't summon the energy. He thought about the MCG again, the cloudless blue sky, the figures in white running between the wickets. It was a beautiful day.

* * *

Scotty looked round his new quarters, leaning on Heather for support as he limped slowly around the room checking where all his belongings had been put, and moving an item or two from one shelf to another. "Did ye do all this yerself?" he asked, reaching a chair and lowering himself gingerly onto it. Doctor Chandra had told him he'd been in the stasis chamber for three days, then on a biobed in a medically-induced coma for another two while the worst of his wounds healed. When he'd come to, it was to find the _Churchill_ under tow by an SCE Tug, and Lieutenant Svenson temporarily promoted to Chief Engineer. Seven men and women - the whole of Alpha shift, save one - were dead, including Ensign Stevens, and Chandra had suggested that Scotty might prefer different quarters for the four days it would take them to get to the repair dock at Starbase Five.

"Tal'ia helped some," said Heather, looking around for another chair, finding none, and perching herself on the edge of the bed, "Lieutenant Wesley too, once he'd moved his own stuff out."

Scotty wondered briefly why Wesley had had to play musical rooms, and then realized that the Lieutenant had probably moved into a cabin that had belonged to one of the dead engineers. He shivered, and rubbed his arms. "It's cold in here."

Heather jumped up and went across to the heating dial. "I'll turn this up a little."

He shook his head. "Don't fuss, Heather. It doesn't matter."

Nothing seemed to matter. When the Captain had arrived in Sickbay to debrief him - against Chandra's objections - Scotty had had no problem in giving a simple, factual account of exactly what had happened. He felt detached from it all somehow, as though he'd severed all his emotional connections when he'd forced himself past the carnage in engineering towards those doorway controls.

Ignoring his plea not to fuss, Heather rummaged in a drawer and handed him the ski sweater his mother had knitted. "Here, this'll be warmer..."

"I said _it doesn't matter_!" Scotty snatched the garment from her and threw it across the bed, then wondered why he was so angry about a simple act of kindness. He shook his head in apology. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." She picked up the sweater, and stood in front of him to drape it over his shoulders. "You want me to go?"

"No." He caught her hands and held them. "Not yet anyway." He ran a thumb over the freckle on her left hand, remembering how and why he'd searched for its owner. Now, even that seemed distant, unreal, as though it had happened to someone else.

"Come here, then." Heather gently pulled him to his feet and maneuvered him to sit on the edge of the bed next to her. "Scotty, I still don't understand what happened. I mean - what the hell is a dilithium rupture anyway?"

He pulled his hands from hers and turned away. "Doctor Chandra tell ye to do this?"

"Do what?"

"Get me to talk about it. Again. I've been over it, and over it!" There he went again with the irrational anger . Why was he doing this to her?

He could feel her fingers comb through his hair as she answered, softly: "Doctor Chandra didn't tell me to do anything. If you don't want to explain it, that's fine. I just never heard of anything like that happening before."

"I'm not surprised." He shifted back toward her a little, bracing his hands on the edge of the bed. "It's incredibly rare. I only know of two, maybe three, ruptures like that in the history of human space travel. Trouble is no-one knows why some crystals are unstable, so we've no idea how to detect them. Cracked crystals are easy to spot, flawed ones too. But the ones that rupture..." He sighed. "They look perfect, or they wouldn't be in a starship engine in the first place. There's a theory that they don't degenerate at the same rate as normal crystals, that maybe instead they absorb energy from the ordinary ones until they can't take any more." With a shrug, he added, "But I'm not a great believer in theories. I've seen too many of them proved wrong." Shaking his head, he lay back across the bed. "Heather, eight people walked into that engine room a week ago, and I'm the only one who came out alive. Why? I mean... why _me_? And why the hell don't I _feel_ anything?" She reached out a hand and he took it and pulled her down into his arms. "I don't expect ye to answer any of that."

"Just as well," she said, propping herself on his chest to look down into his eyes, "Because all I know for sure right now is that I'm really glad you're here."

"Are ye?" He asked, searching for what he thought he knew would be the truth. He felt so guilty for living. Whatever that truth was, good or bad, he deserved it and he knew Heather would give it to him straight. "Because I'm not so sure I'm glad I'm here."

Heather kissed him softly on his lips and he closed his eyes, fighting back tears that he knew would come if he continued to look at her. He would not cry in front of her. He would not.

"Scotty, I am glad you're still here. And I think under the circumstances your reaction is pretty normal." She paused for a minute as if waiting for a reply. But Scotty continued to listen. He had learned early in their relationship that when Heather spoke, she spoke volumes.

"I don't know anymore than you do why this happened, but it did. Call it fate….or destiny, or whatever. But I think you should roll with it. Feel what you feel right now, sort it out if you can and keep moving forward. When you're ready to grieve, you'll grieve. And if anyone gives you any shit about it…well, tell em to fuck off."

He was surprised to hear his own voice say, "I wish I could forget it ever happened."

"Hey…" She nudged him and he opened his eyes to find her frowning at him. "don't say that. Don't ever say that. You dishonor your friends when you say that."

"Yer right, lass. Stevens…Garibaldi….Woodrow…Marsh-especially Marsh, they all deserve better than that."

Heather smiled and kissed him again. He wanted to kiss her back, but he was tired. So very tired.

Scotty turned on his side into the sanctuary of her arms and slept.


	11. Chapter 11

11.

Two travel cases and an empty kitbag stood in the middle of the floor, and Scotty lay on his bunk looking at them. He supposed he really ought to make a start on packing his personal belongings into them, after all the _Churchill_ would be at Starbase Five in 24 hours, but somehow he just couldn't be bothered.

It didn't help that he didn't know where he would go or what he would do next. Chandra had ordered him to take a month's sick leave, so Scotty would be heading back to Aberdeen for a few weeks. His mother had been frantic when he'd spoken to her on the subspace link, so he needed to go home if only to reassure her that he really was still in one piece. Besides, he could use the home cooking. And a hug.

But after that? The _Churchill _needed major repairs, if not a complete refit, and would be out of commission for months. Heather hadn't decided yet which ship she was going to apply for, so he couldn't begin to make enquiries about engineering vacancies. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to serve on another ship, or whether he'd have the nerve to step into an engine room ever again.

The cases were still there, silently mocking his indolence, and he swung his legs off the bunk and moved to sit at the desk. He could sort through his data tapes, that would be a start. Some of them were Starfleet property, some were personal stuff, some were academic papers he was working on and some… weren't even labeled.

Scotty cursed. He was meticulous about his tapes being content-stamped, so finding one that wasn't was a nuisance as well as annoying. With a sigh, he slotted the offending tape into the computer and hit the switch to play it. For a moment he wasn't sure what he was looking at, and then realization hit him: this wasn't his tape. It was the joke Tourist Information Swedish vid that Svenson had given to Stevens, back before…

His gasp turned into a sob, and he tried to swallow it down, groping for an 'off' switch he suddenly couldn't see because his vision was blurred with tears. As the vid played on, unheeded, all the emotions Scotty thought had been buried for good rose up together and engulfed him.

* * *

Scotty had been surprised to learn that Commodore Vlasyuk had traveled to Starbase Five to personally look over the _Churchill_. He was nothing short of astonished when the Commodore's ADC contacted him shortly after they'd docked, and told him to report to Vlasyuk's office at 17:00 hours.

Now, scrubbed, combed and polished, he stood at attention in front of the man they called 'the Russian Bear'. Scotty could understand why. Vlasyuk's build and bristling grey beard would have made him intimidating even without the gold bars on his sleeves. As he stood there wondering what he'd screwed up and how badly, Scotty could only hope that the end would be quick.

He nearly fell over when Vlasyuk smiled, gestured at a chair, and said "Sit down, Ensign, and relax please. You're not in any trouble." He paused for a moment, then added, "None that _I_ know about anyway."

"Uh…. Thank you, sir."

As Scotty cautiously lowered himself onto the chair opposite Vlasyuk, the Commodore leaned forward a little, resting his hands on the desk in front of him. "Scott, you're here because of Commander Marsh."

"Aye, sir, I know that. He saved my life. He saved all of us."

Vlasyuk nodded. "Yes, he did. But that's not what I meant." He thumbed a switch, and the triscreen on his desk lit up with diagrams and equations. "Recognize anything?"

Scotty leaned in a little, checked what he was seeing. "Yes, sir! These are the recommendations I made to Commander Marsh for improvements to the magnatomic capacitors." He gave a small shrug. "He didn't like them."

"Oh, he _liked_ them, Scott," said Vlasyuk, with what might have been a chuckle, "He just didn't _understand_ them. Not enough to approve them without a second opinion anyway." He flicked a switch and the screen changed. "Same thing with your suggestions for improving the transporter's phase discriminator; and increasing the cross-connecting compatibility between the impulse and warp controls." He switched the screen off. "I was at the Academy with Jeff Marsh. So I know he wasn't easily impressed. But _you_…" He pointed a finger, "You impressed him, Ensign. Impressed me too, with these ideas." Picking up the padd from his desk, he glanced at it and went on: "You've not put in your transfer request yet I see. You know the _Churchill_ will be out of commission for some time?"

"Yes, sir. I just…" Scotty took a deep breath. He'd not admitted this to anyone but himself till now. Not even Heather. "I'm not sure I can…"

He had to stop and collect himself, but the Commodore seemed to understand what he was trying to say anyway. Scotty could read sympathy and understanding in the man's face as he said, "You will, Scott. You're an engineer. Some people train to be, some just are. You're the latter. So you'll be wanting to get back into an engine room before your sick leave's through, if I'm any judge. But if you want more time – and if you're interested - I can offer you an alternative to getting straight back on a starship."

"Sir?"

"The SCE is always looking for good engineers. We have an R&D facility on Space Station K2, out near the Deneva system – ideal place for you to test out some of these theories and recommendations of yours, if you'd like to transfer on a two-year secondment.

"There is one proviso, Scott: I want you to find a way to prevent a dilithium rupture destroying an engine room. I don't want this happening to another starship, another crew, another friend. If you take the posting, you'll have the opportunity to work on a number of projects, and you'll be encouraged to come up with more ideas of your own – but I'd like you to make dilithium containment your main priority." He sat back. "I know your shuttle leaves for Earth at oh-seven-hundred tomorrow; I don't expect a decision before you go. I'll be back at Starfleet Command Headquarters in a week's time. I hope you'll have an answer for me by then?"

Scotty nodded, though he already knew what his response was going to be.

He just needed to somehow find the strength to tell Heather.

* * *

She was waiting for him in his quarters, just as she'd promised, and when he walked in she stood up to give him a hug, then stepped back and looked him up and down. "You got out of there in one piece then?"

He managed a smile. "Aye, everything's intact. Career included." He caught her hand for a moment and ran his thumb over the links of the bracelet on her wrist, then walked past her and pulled the hip-flask from his kitbag, which was all packed and ready to go first thing in the morning. He really, really needed a drink. "Want one?"

She shook her head and went to sit on the bed. "You know I don't really like it."

He poured a measure into the flask's beaker, drank it in one shot, poured another and put the beaker on the bedside table as he sat down next to Heather. She didn't push him or prompt him, and he was grateful for that. In his head, he'd been through a dozen different ways to tell her what he was going to do, but he knew there was no gentle way of saying it. He couldn't look at her, but listened to her breathing for a moment more before he spoke. "The Commodore offered me a secondment to the SCE. For a couple of years. On Space Station K2."

The breathing stopped for a moment, then resumed with a soft "Oh." He heard her take a deeper breath. "You're going to take the post. Aren't you?"

He nodded, his gaze on the floor by his feet. "Aye."

He felt her hand touch his arm. "I'm so glad... It sounds like something... you'll truly enjoy..."

He could hear her voice shake and turned to look at her. She didn't look glad, she was pushing a hand across her eyes in a vain attempt to brush the tears away before he saw them. "Heather..."

"No, it's okay." Her fingers slid down his arm and she grasped his hand, holding it tight as her words came out in a rush. "I... decided to apply for a place on the Science Outpost team for Delta-Gamma Five. Commander Wu says she'll back me so... there's a good chance..." She rubbed her eyes again with her free hand and he could see that the smile she gave him was as forced as the one he was counterfeiting for her.

Not trusting himself to speak, Scotty drew her into his arms and rested his cheek on the top of her head as he held her, breathing in her scent, savoring her warmth and the pressure of her arms around his waist.

"So you see, we'll both be doing something we love," she whispered, her voice so low he could barely hear the words, "That's wonderful. Isn't it?"

Scotty did not speak. He felt overwhelmed with everything that had just passed between them. He didn't care to hear anymore, nor question his own feelings towards this woman he knew now that he loved and yet had to leave. There were no words, he realized. Nothing he could say would be good enough for what he felt at that moment. He only wanted to feel her hands touch him one more time, taste her, take her away to that pleasure they had visited so many times before.

He tilted her chin up and when his lips touched hers, she pressed herself against him, molding herself against his body. They fell back against the bed, bodies clasped tightly as their lips and tongues seemed to search the inner depths of each other. Their hands roved over clothes and skin, tugging and caressing until nothing was left between them.

They clung together on the bed as if neither of them could possibly bear to let the other go.

Scotty's hands gently kneaded the fullness of Heather's breasts, his mouth rained kisses over her face and throat, his tongue tasting the sweetness of her skin.

Her fingers roamed over his body freely as if she were memorizing every line of flesh and bone. She kissed the soreness from his shoulder. And then she kissed his mouth, a hot, open-mouthed ravenous kiss. It took him beyond the boundaries of rational feeling-or thinking and a volcanic storm began to rage inside them both, so hot it scorched him to the bone.

Scotty lifted Heather's thigh over his hip and pushed himself into her. He gripped her bottom and held her to him, thrusting upward as he did. She shuddered and held on, meeting his lips with hers again and again.

The storm raged on.

Not just hers, or his, but theirs. A storm stronger than either of them could control. Strong enough to knock them into senseless, unrelenting need. Until it rose in a scalding wave and shattered them. Destroying them, intertwining them and then completing them.

When the storm died, they found themselves breathless, limbs tangled and exhausted.

Passion and desire had faded, leaving behind two emotionaly raw, naked people.

Heather smiled at him. Scotty searched her eyes, fathomless and blue. He kissed her and still, there was no need for words. Not with Heather.

* * *

She was sleeping when he left. He wanted to remember her that way, peaceful and pretty, smiling in her sleep; in any case, he wasn't sure he would actually be able to say 'goodbye' if he woke her.

Hoisting his kitbag onto his shoulder, Scotty stood for a moment to listen to her breathe. Then he turned and walked away.

THE END


End file.
